Shoe.



E. A. FLEMING.

SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 1915,

LMOASZ. Patented Auw. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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Winesses. Inveror.

Eugene A. Fleming Mw bymxm'z-Zwwmzf AIIyS E. A. FLEIVHNG.

sHoE.

PPUCATON FILED MAR. 23| 1915- 191502182 Patented Aug. 17, 191.3.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

VVinssle'sd# InvenTor.

ugeneAF-leming EUGENE A. FLEMING, OF SOUTH BRAIN TREE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF CNE- HALF TO '.BERTRAM T. MARTIN,

F CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

Original application led December 5, 1914., Serial No. 875,701. Divided and this application filed March To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, EUGENE A. FLEMING,

, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Braintree, county -of Norfolk, State has-for its object to provide a welt shoe l which has great flexibility, in which the insole is free from ridges or shoulders such as are frequently caused by the channeling of the insole; which is so constructed that the lasting operation is greatly'facilitated, and which has other advantages, all as will be more fully hereinafter described and then pointed out in the claim.

In order to give an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which discloses the various steps of manufacture.

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view throughthe upper before the welt is sewed thereto;

Fig. 2 is `a similar view showing the shoe lasted, Athe welt sewed to the upper and the insole secured in position; Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view through the completed shoe; Fig. 4 is a View showing the shoe in perspective before the outsole is sewed thereto;

Fig. 5 is a View showing the piece of material from which the welt and insole are made; F ig.A 6 is a view showing the outsole.-

My improved shoe is of that type in which the welt extends clear around the upper and in manufacturing my shoe, I propose to employ an endless seamless welt which is cut to the desired shape vfrom a ilat piece of sheet material and to employ an insole having an edge contour corresponding to the inner edge contour` of the endless seamless welt. In making my improved shoe the welt 'is sewed to the marginal edge of the upper, the insole is then applied to the shoe and secured in place, and the outsole is subsequently sewed or otherwise fastened to the welt. By reason of the fact that the insole employed hasl an edge contour corresponding in shape and size to lthe inner edge contour of the welt, the welt and inner sole will accurately iit together'in the completed shoe, thus facilitating the assembling SerialNo.16,449.

.which may be of any suitable shape or material and of any desired size or style depending n the character of the shoe to be made. In making a shoe I provide a continuous endless welt stri 2 which is sewed tothe marginaledge 3 oi) the upper and extends clear around the upper. This welt strip is cut to the desired shape directlyT from a flat piece of sheet material and, therefore, it naturally retains its shape and position. After the welt strip has been sewed to the marginal edge of the upper an insole 4 is secured in place, and this may be done during the lasting operation if desired. The insole'4 is secured to the upper by means which do not necessitate the employment of a rib or lip onthe insole to receive the inseam stitches as usual in Goodyear welt shoes.

In my improved .shoe I propose to secure the upper in place by means of the lining 5,

parts and the lasting of the upper."

of the liningrmaybe .fastened to the insole in anyA suitable way, but` I will preferably simply cement them tothe sole as this will ordinarily constitute -a lsufliciently strong structure. Some form of fastening devices might be used for this purpose if desired. The insole 4 has a special relation to the welt strip-2 in that the exterior contour of the insole corresponds in shape and size to the interior edge contourof the welt strip `2 so that when the parts ofthe shoe are assembled, as shown in igs. 2 and 3, the insole and welt will accurately lit each other.

' After the insole and welt have been secured in place the outsole 7 is secured to the welt by any suitable means, such as stitching 8. This particular relation between the shape of the insole and the interior shape o the welt may be secured in any suitable way. One convenient way, however, is to cut the welt strip and the insole from the same piece of material, as shown in Fig. 5, that is, a piece of sheet material 10 of the proper shape can be cut along the line 1l thereby to cut from the piece a marginal or peripheral strip whlch constitutes the welt strip 2, this operation leaving the central part 4 which is used for the insole. In this way the inner edge contour of the welt and the exterior edge contour of the insole are exactly similar in size and shape so -that when the two parts are brought together in the shoe they will accurately lit each other. It is possible to make the piece 10 from which the insole 4 and welt strip 2 are cut of the same shape and size as the outsole 7, and in fact I prefer to have the pieces 7 and 10 of exactly the same contour because by so doing the outsole when applied to the welt of the shoe will accurately fit the welt and a better shoe can be made. j Further, by means of this the cost of manufacture is cheapened as the pieces 7 and 10 can be cut from leather or other material by means of the same die. I may also provide for cutting the welt strip 2 and insole 4 simultaneously from a piece of sheet material by means of a die having two cutting edges, one to cut along the line 11 and the other to out the exterior contour of the Welt strip. However, the particular Way in which the welt strip and sole are cut from the sheet material is not essential to my invention, the important point being that when formed the exterior edge contour of the insole corresponds to the interior contour of the welt strip. Another advantage which is incident to the above-described construction lies in the fact that the form of Welt used facilitates the lasting operation. It will be noted that the interior contour of the welt strip is the same as the exterior contour of the in sole and hence when the shoe is lasted and the upper is drawn into the proper position, the natural shape which the belt assumes at the points 14 will tend to draw the sides of the upper closely against the last, thus making it much easierfor the operator to bring the upper into close contact with the last. Further, since the insole is secured to the upper by means of the extending portion 6 of the lining instead of by inseam stitching the insole is free from any ribs or lips and the shoe presents a much smoother interior than the ordinary welt shoe.

The dies which are used for cutting out the outsole 7 and the piece 10 may if desired be of such a shape as to form positioning projections 16 on some portion of the periphery, as for instance, at the toe and heel, as shown 4in Figs. 5 and 6, the projections on the pieces 7 and 10 having similar positions. The advantage of these is that they assist the operator in properly positioning the outsole upon the lasted shoe for since the projections 16 on the outsole correspond in position to the projections 16 on the piece 10 the proper positioning of the outsole on the shoe involves merely bringing the projection 16 thereon into line with those on the welt.

My improved shoe is extremely flexible and is easy on the foot. It can be manufactured cheaply and has many other advantages. p

The method of making the herein described shoe is not claimed herein as it has `been made the subject of another application tiled by me, Serial No. 875,701 tiled December 5, 1914, of which this is a division.

While I have illustrated herein a selected embodiment of the invention, I do not wish to be limited to the constructional details shown.

I claim;

A shoe comprising an upper, an insole secured thereto, an endless seamless welt cut to shape from a piece of sheet material and sewed to the marginal edge ofthe upper, said welt having an inner edge contour corresponding to the out'er edge contour of the insole, and an outsole sewed to the welt.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

EUGENE A. FLEMING. 

